Listen to your....

...members, customers, clients! In today's world we have so much data on each other its insane, but do we always use it to the best of our ability? NO. Next time you are planning an event or meeting ask your members/clients/attendees what they want to hear about. Collect that data and send it back to them so they can see how many people wanted to hear about a specific topic. Everyone wants their voice to be heard so take advantage of today's technology and LISTEN.

Some ways to listen to your attendees and get your attendees to talk:

• Use personalized URLs to collect data
• Use prepaid postcard with surveys
• Offer incentives for people who fill out your questionnaires
• Use QR codes with offers and make the landing page a survey for a chance to win

There are plenty of ways to get people to voice their opinion and most will do it all on their own if they feel strongly enough so the lesson today is to make sure you are listening when they speak!

Are you listening? How so? I'd love to hear. Shoot me a comment!

Have a good one!
Sarah

Feeding all of the Senses

Now I know I spend a lot of time talking about how great print is, and that's because I do think it is great, BUT online marketing has its place as well. I think the best possible marketing campaigns involve all of the mediums, print, online, interactive, etc. Its sort of like when you watch the food network (don't pretend you don't. I know you love it as much as I do!) and they talk about feeding the senses. Well think about eating a bowl of Rice Krispies(yes very gourmet!) Is it the same without the sound? what about the taste? and obviously you want to see what it looks like. Sure we could live without one of these things, but isn't it that much more fun to eat with your senses?

The same thing goes for marketing! If you aspire to reach all of the senses and reach out to your audience in many ways it makes for a more enjoyable experience. Especially in today's world where we "save" an e-mail for an event we want to go to find out the next week we missed it because the e-mail was out of sight out of mind. What if we had gotten an e-mail, a postcard and a reminder magnet? Chances are we would have remembered.

There is a fine line between reminding and being annoying so don't drown your audience, but be sure that your message is heard through the ongoing BUZZ by using a multitude of mediums!

Thoughts? Feelings? What do you think? Let me know!

Have a good one!
Sarah

Timing your Marketing

Timing is a main factor in getting your audiences attention. When you are on a road trip you pass how many billboards on the way but when you are hungry all of the sudden you are looking at them trying to figure out what to eat. Or maybe you just moved (as I recently did) and you are looking for furniture or a mattress or a kitchen table, all of the sudden that "junk" mail from the furniture store is looking pretty good! It's all about timing.

Below is a link to a great article from the What They Think e-mail last week that I finally got a chance to read and I'm glad I saved it!
Pulling The Trigger: http://whattheythink.com/articles/article.cfm?id=47402#

Along these same lines I have a great case study that I pass out to my clients and prospective clients that deals with a hospital and sending out direct mail to people who have just moved to the area so in the event that they need medical attention they are more likely to go to that hospital over another one they have never heard of. Genius!  E-mail me if you want a copy from PODI. sarahk@hbp.com

Friday Entertainment- Google Maps

OK this has nothing to do with printing or marketing, but a friend had this posted yesterday and it's just too darn funny not to share with the world. And well it's Friday so why not! Enjoy!

Enter in Google Maps:
Japan to China and check out step #43
Japan to California check out step #27

What other funny routes can you find? Just goes to show that Google is always on their toes. Thanks Google!

Happy Friday!
Sarah

DVD's and CD's make you open your mail!

It's a 2 for 1 Thursday. I really do love the Print in the Mix articles because they are short and sweet! I get the details I need and that interest me and I can then pass them along to you. This article is about the ability to get consumers to open your mail.

91% of all respondents who received a DVD/CD in the mail opened the mailer!

More facts in the article: http://printinthemix.cias.rit.edu/fastfacts/show/381 Holy Cow! Can you imagine having 91% of your mailers opened. Well apparently the trick is to put a DVD in the mailer! Obviously you need to make sure the DVD has pertinent information, but hey maybe you should try it! Let me know what you think! Do you open mail when it looks like there is a DVD inside?





Have a great one!
Sarah

Customer Barcode Scanning Up 700%

This is great news! I was introduced to this barcode technology back in 2007 when I was interning at PrintPack Inc. in Atlanta GA. We did a variety of packaging for just about every consumer item you could imagine. I still notice the PrintPack bug on packaging to this day! But before I get off topic let's get back to the barcodes. So if you have been following me you know that I love the "trackability" that a barcode gives the client. Well the verdict is out! There is a 700% increase in the number of people using barcodes. This information is from the article from Print in the Mix. See more stats below!

*An aggressive growth of scanning traffic – up over 700% in 2010 demonstrating consumer adoption of this emerging advertising device.
*Starting in July 2010, there were more scans in a single month than all of 2009 combined

Read this article and find out what percent of barcodes that are scanned are on books!!
http://printinthemix.cias.rit.edu/fastfacts/show/375

Let's Eat Out Menus Bridging the Gap with QR Codes!

Monica was recently featured in an article in her hometown of Fredericksburg, VA. She tells her story about how she started Let's Eat Out Menus and why it is such a success and at the end she talks about the future of her business. Her decision to start using QR codes will help bridge the gap between her print and online presence.

Monica's Article: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/102010/10302010/585024?______array

Are you using QR codes yet? In what ways? If you are interested in learning more don't hestitate to contact me!

Have a good one!
Sarah

QR codes for Let's Eat Out Menus!

I met a great friend for life while I was at Clemson University and her name is Monica VanCleve. She started Let's Eat Out Menus (http://letseatoutmenu.com/) right out of college and is now growing her business in Texas with interest from several other people in other states across the US. Let's Eat Out Menus provides readers with full menus from local restaurants so readers can make informed decisions on where to eat! (Don't you wish you had thought of that!) http://epaperflip.com/aglaia/viewer.aspx?docid=399983f9b52647d5a8ca248912dbc045- ebook.

Long story short... she needed a way to track how many people view each page in her publication and provide the restaurant clients with up to date data that they can use to alter specials, marketing tactics and increase their business. I was talking with Monica last week and I told her about QR codes. She knew what they were, but then I talked with her about putting them on her restaurant pages. The codes could link to a mobile page personalized to each restaurant and then the viewer can choose to view the menu or specials. And then the kicker! Tracking all of the views so each restaurant can see how many people viewed their page, looked at the specials etc. Finally a way to measure responses. Isn't print grand!

More to come on this. We are in the pricing stage of this project, but Monica is very excited and is already marketing the tracking features. Great idea for any company looking to track the seemingly "untrackable"

Have a good one!!
Sarah

Cloud Computing- What the heck is it?

I've found myself searching the web and trying to find something worth while to post on here about Cloud Computing. I keep hearing about it, but I don't have a good grasp of what it is exactly , what it will do for me, and how to use it. So in this post I'm asking you to post any links you may have found helpful on this topic. I'm willing to check them all out... so let the copying and pasting fly!

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Thanks!
Sarah

Chocolate or Vanilla? Online or Offline? Start thinking BOTH not OR

LOVE this article so I'm choosing to post it here in the hopes that you will enjoy it too. It reiterates the importance of multichannel marketing and you guessed it!- Print is not dead!!! I'm not sure why I enjoy the topics of print remaining king of the hill and young adults responding better to printed materials, but perhaps it's my rebellious nature or my need to jump off the wagon instead of on it. Either way it appears I'm not alone in my beliefs, so read on and enjoy!

Happy Tuesday!

http://blogs.forbes.com/lisaarthur/2010/09/08/chocolate-vanilla-or-swirl-the-debate-between-online-and-offline-marketing/

Cone pic courtesy of Wikipedia.